Slow Cooker Everyday Challenge day 6: Crock-pot El...

If you’re scrutinizing this slow-cooking challenge I’ve set myself (which is unlikely, I know, since who really would be), you’ll notice this post is out of order, and might conclude that I missed a day. If so, I must protest, that isn’t true! If there’s anything I’ve plowed through with fidelity this week, which has been rough and snot-faced and wearying, it’s this slow cooker plan....

Slow Cooker Everyday Challenge: Day 4, Crockpot Br...

By day four of cooking daily with the crock-pot, there are leftovers to choose from. I guess that’s one key function, and bonus, of slow cookers; you get to spread the yields out throughout the week. Nevertheless, in the potentially twisted world of my odd priorities, the crock-pot challenge must go on! So, the day fourth meal became a simple dessert that could double as breakfast, a brown rice pudding. Lessons learned:...

Slow Cooker Everyday Challenge: Day 3, Black Bean ...

I’m going to aim for being a poster child in brevity today. Everything that comes spewing out of my mouth this afternoon seems slurred and clouded, because I am presently exhausted. Our school has felt like a cesspool of bacteria, and I’ve been fighting (and gradually winning, I might add) a severely disadvantaged battle against the crud clogging my head. Disadvantaged because it’s making it practically...

Slow Cooker Everyday Challenge: Day 2, Chicken and...

In deciding this personal daily crockpot adventure week was for me, I predicted that my best chances of making it successful would be to make sure components were prepped the night before and kept in the refrigerator. I still stand by that prediction. I wake up early for a specific purpose, like getting in a workout that has a clear-cut timeline attached to it. Slicing and dicing, especially bleary-eyed, has too much...

Slow Cooker Everyday Challenge: Day 1, Easy Tomato...

This is the first of a what is supposed to be a week’s worth of short, mostly succinct recipe shares, as opposed to my usual rambling attempts at story-telling through food. This weekend, I finally got a slow cooker! I must be the last of my cooking friends to do so, and I’m really not sure what took me so long.  In anticipation, Dave and I have been combing the web for great crockpot recipe ideas to try, and in...

Homemade Yogurt: A Troubleshooter’s Guide

When writing a book proposal, you need to present your expert qualifications. Why are you the best person to author your book? I bring this up only because it’s so startlingly obvious that I am too well suited to write this post, and I’m looking for a silver lining. Because, if there is anyone capable of exploring every possible mistake to be made in the otherwise straightforward and simple process of making...

(Gluten, dairy, egg, soy, corn, and sugar free) Qu...

Honestly, I’m sitting here at the computer feeling a little shell-shocked right now. It’s been one of those strange weekends. I felt resigned to a certain busy quietude–we had plenty to do, but it was mostly of the “get it done” variety, productive rather than jubilant, but still conceivably fun. Then, this morning, I had a phone call posing a question that just blew my mind; and, while nothing...

Jen’s Cleanse Bars (quinoa, pumpkin, flax, m...

Does it mean anything significant, Freudian or profound, when you find yourself creating recipes based on dog treats you once made? Because that’s what these bars were originally inspired by,  though in reality, they only share two ingredients with one another. And in all honesty, anyone who understands people and their pets knows, it’s not uncommon to prioritize clean, healthy, organic food for our little fur...

White Bean and Kale Soup with Stale Bread “C...

First off, I apologize for the worse-than-usual/actually pretty atrocious soup photo, and lack of photos plural. Posting this soup was really kind of an afterthought. I was in fact intending to write about experiments with kale, upon which I’ll expound  in further detail in a sec. But before I do, I have only two quick things to say about this lovely, fragrant, and comforting soup: 1) You don’t have to put bread...

Light gingerbread pancakes with pomegranate syrup

One week of journal drought, then two posts in one day! I know!  In case this appears on the surface to be a classic case of new year hyper-drive on the road to burnout, let me just say, this year I have decided to create  a few SMART goals (an educator’s guide to projected progress that is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) for myself . They are also going to be simple, and rather practical. My...

Guest post from Dahn Yoga: Nutrient in apples may ...

If you’re working on New Year’s resolutions, you may want to consider taking the phrase “an apple a day” a little more literally.  Or carve out more time to focus on healthful practices, like yoga and meditation. Thanks to Dahn Yoga for contributing this guest post.  Just about everyone is familiar with the old saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Now, new research suggests...

Cooking Up A Canine Christmas

Have I shared the details of how crossing lives with our little rescue dog, Riley, was kismet? I’m about to, anyway. Warning: when I get going in “dog Mom” mode, I’m sappy at best. Saccharine even, if you’re being a grump. Growing up, our family dog, a terrier cross, was a key factor behind improved allergies, I believe. I loved her so much, I think my brain actually managed to talk my body out...